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Keith Avila, 34, is an Uber driver from Elk Grove, California. At first, he thought a drunk passenger throwing up in the back seat would be the worst thing that could happen on the job.

But in December 2016, Keith picked up two women and a 16-year-old girl from Sacramento. They asked him to drive them to the Holiday Inn in Elk Grove.

Keith overheard the conversation taking place in the back seat and quickly realized something was horribly wrong. The two women seemed to be giving the teenager suspicious instructions on how to handle the man, “John,” who was waiting for her at the hotel. They instructed her on how to collect money from him. Keith couldn’t help but think this was a case of sex trafficking.

Immediately after dropping them off at the hotel, Keith called the police. He then waited outside the hotel and recorded himself describing, in harrowing detail, what he’d just experienced.

Police arrested the two women for various charges relating to pimping and pandering, along with the suspected John. The 16-year-old was reported to be a runaway.

Police said the observant Uber driver made all the difference. “He could’ve said nothing. Went on his way, collected his fare,” said Elk Grove police Officer Chris Trim. “And then that 16-year-old victim could’ve been victimized again by who knows how many different people over the next couple of days, weeks, months.”

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